The State Hermitage Museum: Information

The primary points of the presentation by M.B. Piotrovksy, the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum and President of the Union of Museums of Russia at the meeting with V.V. Putin, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in Saratov

Concept and Strategy.

We requested this meeting because there are many urgent problems and sore spots in museum work. We think that we have the right to talk about them in an equally sharp way, since in the last twenty years museums in Russia have demonstrated the huge role they play in society and their ability to do their job in the most difficult of circumstances. In certain circles, however, there is a notion that our museums lag behind certain “mythical” examples from the outside world and that we must bring in people who know what to do so that they can teach us. In fact, what we need to do is develop the remarkable and original contribution that our museums, big and small, have made to world museum practice in recent years.

I’m referring to the unique audit that we recently conducted, which gave us a complete picture of the makeup of Russia’s museum holdings. No one else has anything like it. Only on this foundation it is possible to apply the latest information technology to manage these riches. The audit indicated that museums managed to preserve our national treasures in the most difficult years that were full of attempts to seduce them. Compared with all the other segments of the public domain, this fact is unique. We have special museum legislation, which is being improved, admittedly with difficulty. Our museums have worked out a clear, working system of public/private partnership, which many other countries are learning from. Our charitable foundations are creating museums that are equal to anything they have in the west.

Our museums have realized unprecedented cultural expansion in the world. They create a positive image of Russia and promote our perspective on world culture and history. In this area, the museums of the world follow our lead. It was here that the innovative concept of open storage areas, which solves the problem of making collections accessible, was developed. It was our museums that have managed to apply the latest technological innovation for scientific, educational and entertainment purposes. Museum websites are an important alternative to the vulgarity that dominates the internet. We have model technical museums, like the Museum of Communications, which was somehow forgotten by the ministry that was meant to be running it. We are attentively managing the reconstruction of the Polytechnic Museum and its potential transfer to a warehouse.

Only we have had the Union of Museums of Russia for ten years now, which, on the basis of the audit, presented the government with a program for preserving Russia’s museum holdings, a development strategy for museum work and a national report on the condition of our country’s museums. This last report was discussed in the Federation Council. Our request and proposal to the government on the basis of these documents, which were both in the museum community, is to approve the concept for the development of museums in Russia.

It can serve as a good basis for changes to legislation that will make it less hostile to culture.

There is a distinct lack of proper public understanding of the role of museums (and of culture in general). A museum is not a leisure institution and not a tourist attract. It does not provide a service; rather, it fulfills a very important government function, that of preserving cultural heritage, historical memory, and the very right to memory. Museums cultivate a sense of historical worthiness in people and ensure the level of culture and taste necessary to make correct, modern decisions, and the ability to follow through on them. The tourist and entertainment functions must be subordinated to the educational mission.

We are very concerned about the financial aspects of our work. Embarrassingly low funding will become a social and class problem. On the other hand, rather than a social program to ensure accessibility, we have populist orders on prices without a system to compensate museums for the discounts they offer.

Museums, as is well known (though not to everyone) have four main tasks. There are urgent questions and potential cultural catastrophes associated with each of them.

The first task is PRESERVING CULTURAL HERITAGE. In essence, this means protecting museum holdings. Museums must be inviolable. Government insurance guarantees and return guarantees are absolutely necessary for museums. This is critically necessary both in the country and outside it. The system of storage areas has already been mentioned. It is not only objects and buildings that must be protected, but historical places and landscapes as well. The best approach would be to work out a solution based on the practices of museum/conservation areas.

The second task is STUDYING MUSEUM HOLDINGS. A museum is not a warehouse for storing things (or even treasures), it is a cultural product, created by scientific work. We have to legally recognize museums’ right to conduct scientific work. It is also critically necessary for us to remove archeological and tour operations from the notorious law 94.

The third task is EXPANDING OUR COLLECTION. It is currently being fulfilled poorly. There isn’t enough money. We may wind up with a history of the 20th century without genuine artifacts. We have missed a great deal. The Hermitage missed the silver garniture from the chambers of Nikolai II, and we are now missing a portrait by van Dyck that was once sold by the Hermitage. We are proposing the creation of a special-purpose capital center for the acquisition of museum pieces. We cannot forget that the basis and foundation of a museum is a GENUINE OBJECT, an antidote the virtual that society is drowning in. Expanding our holdings may lead to the birth of new museums. A remarkable treasure was recently discovered in Petersburg. In our view, it should become the basis for turning the palace of the Naryshkiny- Trubetskiye into a museum. While the restoration is underway, the items may be stored temporarily at the Hermitage, where restoration and research will be performed and a book will be prepared (as was done with the buried treasure of factory owner Likhacheva).

The fourth task, which is impossible without the first three, is MAKING MUSEUM PIECES AVAILABLE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. This is a tremendously important governmental function, and not a service. In our opinion, the EDUCATIONAL (and scientific) function of museums must be officially recognized. Museums, like culture as a whole, do not satisfy demand; rather, they cultivate that high demands that politics and economics ought to be based on in the 21st century. In order to perform that function throughout the united space of Russia, it is vital to create the necessary exhibition halls and transportation system. Then it will be possible to talk seriously about exhibits from major museums throughout Russia. We have experience forcing the authorities to construct museums. For example, the museum in Tomsk was reconstructed in order to accept an exhibit from the Hermitage. This was the result of an agreement between the museum and Rosatom. The year of Russian history, the celebration of the 1150th year of our status as a sovereign state, the memory of the War of 1812 - none of these things have meaning until it is given to them by museums. So museums do have program.

Museums play a key role in cultivating a feeling and historical worthiness, a solid sense of one’s own history. In this context, military museums are extremely important, as are the military programs of regular museums. The Union of Museums of Russia is currently in dialogue with the Ministry of Defense about the need to preserve the Museum of Artillery and the Naval Museum in Saint Petersburg as independent entities. The fate of regimental museums is a cause for concern. Joint work with the Ministry of Defense is necessary. It has already begun. The Museum of the Russian Guard remains on the agenda.

Throughout the world, museums are an important element of quality of life, and throughout the world museums are indicators of the quality of society. Our museums are the most democratic cultural institutions. This year, Russian museums were visited by about 80 million people. We demonstrated that we are performing our state function. We are waiting for society (not only the government, but society as a whole) to fulfill its obligations to ensure that that function can be performed.

M.B. Piotrovsky
President of the Union of Museums of Russia
General Director of the State Hermitage Museum